Pre-Columbian & Middle Ages Science and Tech

Science and Technology in Pre-Columbian Times (1500 B.C. - A.D. 1500) and the Middle Ages (A.D 400- A.D 1300)

Olmec Civilization

• The Olmecs are considered the first great Mesoamerican civilization
• They flourished along the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico, primarily in Veracruz and Tabasco, from approximately 1200 to 400 B.C.
• The name "Olmec" translates to "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the Aztec language.
• The Olmecs constructed permanent city-temple complexes such as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros
• Evidence suggests they practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism.
• The Olmecs traded goods like obsidian, ceramics, jade, serpentine, mica, rubber, pottery, feathers, and polished mirrors made of limenite and magnetite
• They created monuments, masks, and figurines.
• They cultivated cacao, rubber, and salt.

Mayan Civilization

• The ancient Mayans were a diverse group of indigenous people inhabiting parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras
• Remarkable scientific achievements are attributed to them in fields like astronomy, engineering, medicine, and mathematics, the Mayan made great progress in agriculture and technology
• Mayans tracked the movement of stars and planets
• They were able to accurately predict celestial events such as eclipses
• Venus was seen as a significant astronomical object,
• They developed an accurate calendar, the ritual calendar used in Mesoamerica had a count of 260 days
• Each day in it was given a name, similar to the days of the week.
• The Mayan written language consisted of approximately 800 glyphs or symbols, each representing a word or syllable that combined in various ways.
• Mayans were skilled in building elaborate temples and cities without using metal tools

Aztec Civilization

• In 1325 A.D., the Aztecs founded their city of Tenochtitlan in present-day Mexico City
• Tenochtitlan became the capital and center of the Aztec Empire
• It remained the capital until the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs in 1520
• The Aztecs believed they saw an eagle perched on a cactus in the marshland near Lake Texcoco's southwest border
• They viewed this as a sign to establish their settlement
• Early in the city's history, the Aztecs constructed causeways and canals for transportation in the city
• Aztecs are known for their violent nature, expanding the empire through ruthless warfare
• They were known for human sacrifices performed in rituals, involving the removal of beating hearts to appease many gods,
• Aztec developed dugouts for canoes
  • They used these to transport themselves and goods through the canals, lakes, and waterways in the valley of Mexico

Aztec Calendar System

• Astronomy was a key element in the Aztec calendar.
• The Aztec calendar was heavily influenced by their gods.
• The Aztec calendar consisted of a ritual cycle of 260 days.
• Tonalpohualli : The 260-day cycle was based on astronomical observations.
  • The calendar was broken into units, sometimes referred to as trecenas, of 20 days.
  • Each day had its own name, symbol, deity, and augury.
• The 20-day group ran simultaneously with another group of 13 numbered days.
• Xiuhpohualli: This calendar indicated when religious events should be held.
  • It was divided into 18 groups of 20 days, with each having their own festival.
• The Aztec ritual and civil cycles returned to the same place every 52 years, which was celebrated.

Aztec Medicine

• The Aztecs had advanced development in medicine with many forms, such as ointments and drinks
• This was recorded in the Badianus Manuscript
• It was created by Aztec artists in 1552

Inca Civilization

• The Inca civilization flourished in the Andean region of South America, from the early 15th century A.D. until the Spanish conquest in the 1530s.
• Machu Picchu, a famous archaeological site, was built as a retreat for an Incan emperor
  • The Quechua word “Machu Picchu” means "Old Peak" or "Old Mountain."
  • The site contains over 100 separate flights of stairs; most individual staircases were
• The Inca civilization was called Tawantinsuyu
  • The name means "Land of the Four Corners."
  • The civilization was the largest empire of Inca
  • The civilization originated at the city of Cuzco in what is today Peru
  • To support this empire, there was a system of roads stretched to almost 25,000 miles.
  • Quechua was the official language
• Chinchaysuyu (north region):
  • The region was the most important part agricultural region of the empire.
  • The territory covered much of modern-day Peru, Ecuador, and part of Colombia.
• Antisuyu (east region):
  • With heavy rainfall, high humidity, and vegetation, the region was located in the upper Amazon,
• Contisuyu (west region):
  • Vertical slopes that rise to 19,000 feet in altitude, presented complex problems for Inka road
• Collasuyu (south region):
  • The region included plains, it was good for llama and alpaca herding, a source of salt, potatoes, gold, silver, and copper
• The Inca were rich in maize (corn), dried llama, coca leaves, and alcohol with other consumable things
• Consumption was also beans and chili peppers
• An important part of Inca funerary rites was mummification
  • November was the "month of carrying the dead,", a time when they would feed mummies
• Cumpi: the finest Inca textiles were reserved for the Inca nobility and the emperor himself.
  • The clothes were woven out of wool from dried llamas and alpaca or vicuna
• Incas objects were made out of gold and silver, to make objects, trinkets and jewelry
  • Combinations of gold and silver, and gold and copper (called tumbaga) were also used
• The Inca stone-working's fitted building stones together without using mortar
  • Their was Inca stone Trapezoid windows and angle stone
• The Inca had stone Trapezoid Windows
• Inca Calendars
  • There was one solar and lunar
• Twelve lunar months fall 11 days short of a full 365-day year
  • Equinoxes, solstices, and Venus cycles are observed
• Quipu: used as mnemonic devices or to record numerical data and also believed to record history and literature.
• Inca even performed successful skull surgeries
• Physical measures were performed on human body parts
  • Fingers, thumb, palms, cubits, and wingspans were among those units used
  • Thatkiy or thatki, or one pace was the most basic unit of distance
• Their was Inca weapons such as Bronze spears and two handed wooden swords

The Middle Ages: Military Technologies

• Medieval times, Middle Ages and Dark ages are generally referring to the same period of time from 500 to 1500 A.D.
• It spans to the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Ottoman Empire

Counterweight Trebuchet

• A revolutionary siege weapon that used counterweights and hurled stones very far away
• It was first used in the eastern Mediterranean basin. ####The Longbow
• It was used by the English in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
• It was powerful, accurate and contributed to the decline of the medieval knight class.

Steel Crossbow

• The first hand-held mechanical crossbow of it's kind.
• Innovative European design that had different cocking aids to draw.

Plate Armour

• Plate armour began appearing in the end of the 14th century, made from rings and a long cloak called Hauberk.
• Best armour because of protection and working with metal

Other Inventions of The Middle Ages

• The following list is other inventions that occurred during the Middle Ages.

Blast furnace

• The blast furnace first appeared in middle Europe around 1150.

Hourglass

• This was believed to be a medeival innovation
• Made from a dependable, affordable and accurate way to measure time
• The first of it's kind was made Italian city Siena.

Vertical Windmills

• Post mills were pivotable.
• Used to grind grain and draining water.

Spectacles

• Convex lenses to see people with far sight.

Chess

• India invented chess, during the 6th century.
• Chess then made it's way from the Muslim world/Persia into Europe.
• By the 15th century, chess took on it's current form.

Mirrors

• Alexander Neckham made mirrors in the year 1180.

Oil Paint

• Jan Van Eyck used it in 1410.
• Oil was used to added greater detail in tempera paintings.

Tide Mill

• Tide water mills were designed to get power from tides.
• The Nendrum Monastary had one in Northern Ireland.

Spinning Wheel

• The orgins of the spinning wheel are unceartin, though some say it was India

• The machine spread to Europe the Middle East.

  • Made it's way during the Middle Ages.

• In the 1000s, the first ever universities were developed.

• In the 1100s, universities emerged across Western EU, one of them being Cambridge and Oxford in England

• In the fourteenth century, crisis hit the late middle ages- with The Black Death disease outbreak

  • Quarantine tochnique was created because of this

• Began as a 40 day period of being in quarantine

• Then, because of the breakout in Ragusa, quarantine was introduced